Paint
by BlueSkyMornings
Summary: This story is about Tonks and Remus meeting at a paint job, five years after the fall of Voldemort, and after five years of not talking to one another. One shot. Short.


_Disclaimer:_ I, R.L.N.Tonks, own nothing. The characters are all coined by JKR, and I just use them for my own creative purposes...

_A/N:_ This fiction is out of character. It's five years after the defeat of Voldemort.

The only differences are that:

1. Tonks didn't die

2. Lupin didn't die

3. They never got married, hence there was no Teddy. Sadly.

4. After the war Witches and Wizards did more Muggle things.

**Paint **

It had been five years since the big war with Voldemort. His downfall is greatly celebrated. People get along better. Witches and wizards started to do more Muggle things, like painting flats, cleaning, and acting.

Today would be the fifth year anniversary. Five years of no Voldemort, Harry not having any trouble, and also, it marked five years of Tonks and Remus Lupin not seeing or hearing from each other.

Tonks was still an Auror. One of the best. She now worked with Harry and Ron. The latter decided to instead help Fred and George with their Joke Shop. Ron sometimes worked as an Auror helping Harry, and more less times than not, helping Tonks. Kingsley was Minister; Lupin, he was still the same old werewolf, only he could go around people now and work jobs; Hermione, she started working for the Ministry for the department of Misuse of Magic; Ginny married Harry, and was a professional Quidditch player; Neville and Luna married, Neville was the new Herbology teacher, and Luna studied and found many different magical animals.

But when it came to love, Tonks had no luck. Since Lupin, she had been on a lot of dates only to go home disappointed. No one treated her like Lupin did, which is what she set her standard to: really high. But it was Lupin who had given up. Going back to that old '_I'm too old for you, to poor, and too dangerous_' claptrap.

Today she had to go paint a house for some people. Well, not anyone in particular, just paint it so someone would buy it. A Muggle job. But it wasn't like she had anything better to do. Kingsley gave her the day off.

So, to escape boredom, she thought she'd paint a house - with other people of course. As far as she knew, they were all Muggles. Key phrase, as far as she knew.

And she had to be there in five minutes. She was in such a hurry she lost her footing and fell.

'Ouch! Bloody sidewalk.' She sighed, shaking her head. She quickly got up and dusted herself off. 'Looks like I better hurry,' and she started to walk towards the flat.

Remus Lupin was going over ads. He was looking for a small, affordable flat. He didn't have the money for a good one, but he didn't care. He would take any thing he could get.

He was just hoping it was close, really close, to Tonks's. Truth be told, he wanted to make amends with her. For starting the fight that separated them all those years ago. He hoped she forgave him, and they could finally be friends again.

So he was intently studding the ads, when he noticed the time on the clock.

_Bloody hell, I'm going to be late._ He rushed up to get his fraying coat and scuffed-up shoes, and hurried off to his job.

His love life had been hard since Tonks. He was going to find some way to talk to her after all these years. That's the thing that kept him happy after Sirius death. Tonks. She kept his spirits up… well, the memory of her.

Before they went out the first time, she was such a good friend to him, always laughing, always changing her pink hair in the middle of something, just to tease him. And in missions, she would always stop joking around with him, and get right to business. He missed that about her. She had honor, she had courage, she had fierce moments when you wouldn't ever want to mess with her…

'What would Padfoot do? He'd want me to find her,' he kept telling himself.

Though he was still uneasy. What if she yelled at him, or cried, or did something horrible?

'Right, well, here we are. Miss Tonks, you're late.' Mr Paul told her off.

Tonks sighed and sat down on the floor waiting for instructions with all the others, though she didn't notice who was sitting next to her. But he did. He would know her anywhere, even though it had been years since their last

meeting and loads had changed. Though he had never seen her with this kind of hair; it was light blue with purple and gray at the same time. Though the last time he saw her was right before she left crying and had morphed her hair short, to the bottom of her neck, limp mousy brown hair, which had previously been a rosy red color to her mid arm. He had wanted to hold her but knew he couldn't. At least now the most he wanted to do was be his friend.

So, all Lupin could do now was sigh—and hope she recognized him—sooner or later. Maybe later was better. Yes, maybe now wasn't the best time. But he had to stand his ground. Why did she intimidate him? Oh, that's right. Because he read the Daily Prophet, and it had a lot of articles with all her victories with Harry and Ron.

But he couldn't contemplate the rest as Mr Paul was assigning them their assignments. 'Ok. You four, sitting there in the corner will take the study. The five of you sitting by the door will take the fun room, and the six in the middle will split the library and the dining hall. Do I make myself clear? Good. Now, let's get it done with,' he told them smugly, clapping his hands.

_Oh great,_ thought Remus, _I'm with Tonks. This should be interesting when she knows who I am._

And soon they were directed to the room of decoration.

'All right,' the instructor, Lindsey, addressed them. 'This is the fun room. With the name, the object of what to do to the room is a given. So, let's cover the walls with base paint and go from there.'

As Tonks and Remus looked around, they both gasped. It was big enough to be a bedroom. Its ceiling was high, with a fan high above, mounted in the center. It had one big window that was oval shaped with two rectangular windows beside, and when you went out the oval, you were on a balcony. It was huge, enough room to make a bedroom with a nursery in it, enough room for Remus when he transformed, with plenty of breathing room.

Everyone agreed and so they all started painting. As they were partnered up on each wall, they had to pick their partners to work with.

Tonks glanced around the room. _Who looks friendly enough for me to pick them?_ she thought, sighing. As she looked around, she spotted a brown-haired male, who was slightly graying, with hazel eyes. _Oh, it's Remus! But I was_

_sitting right next to him. Oh well, I hope we can be friends again._

Right as she had appeared by his side, she tripped.

As if by habit, he caught her by the arm, before she could completely fall to the ground.

'Wotcher Remus, I'll be your partner,' she told him as she let go of his arm and brushed herself off. 'And thanks for keeping me from tripping.' She smiled.

'Hello, Nymphadora, what brings you here?' He politely asked her as the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. He never expected her to be this calm about it. He was shocked after how she took it. When she broke into tears.

* * *

Everywhere you looked there were debris. Along the mess of debris, there were bodies. Bodies of those who fought bravely. About 50 yards from Tonks lay Collin Creevey's body.

Tonks felt so bad for his family. She knew firsthand how much pain this would cause. But now was the time to make sure Remus was okay.

Then she heard screaming coming from inside the castle. Apparently that's where all the survivors were. Did they think she didn't make it? She entered Hogwarts, desperately worrying about Remus. When she got to the Great hall, she was surprised. Everyone was fighting over the final part of the final battle. But where was Remus? Then she saw Harry. So he survived. That was good. Now he was fighting Tom Riddle.

Then she saw Molly fighting Bellatrix. Bellatrix was a git, she thought she had killed her niece. Then she heard Molly scream: 'Not anymore of my children!' and Tonks feared the worst. One of her children… or more…

And as she looked around, she found no sight of Remus, and saw Dolohov fighting more Aurors and the Order.

_That doesn't look good. If he's not fighting Remus anymore…_ No she couldn't think about it anymore. She

wouldn't. Then she saw Dolohov fall to his doom. _If Remus was gone… Please don't let him be_, she thought, then at least he got his vengeance.

Tonks approached the front. She was close enough to see Harry yelling at Tom.

'You'll never know love. Don't underestimate me.' and then with the Elder Wand, he shot a final spell at Voldemort, and caused his downfall. Everyone cheered.

This was no time to cheer. As the bodies were being gathered, and mourning began, Tonks went out to the grounds in search of the one she loved. Then Molly came to Tonks, looking defeated, worn, and miserable.

'Tonks' she said carefully, 'I'm sorry. We found Remus, and he won't wake up.'

Tonks didn't want to believe it. 'No, you're lying.'

Molly shook her head. 'Come with me, dear.' And she lead Tonks to Remus.

Tonks bent down to him, shaking Remus. 'No, he's not dead. He must be faking it. Molly, help me.' When Molly didn't move, she clung to Remus, and didn't let him go. She wouldn't give him up. She started using all the reversal spells she knew. Finally he woke up after many tedious hours.

'Remus! You're okay! But how?' she said, crying into his shirt.

He said nothing, and just wrapped her arms around her. Immediately she knew something was wrong.

'Remus, what's wrong?'

'We can't do this, Tonks. I can't be with you. I know I said I wouldn't, but I'm too old for you, too poor, and too dangerous, and I could break your heart by accident. You shouldn't be with me. This incident has taught me that. If I was to die, you would be devastated. You need to move on. I know we've been through this, but I've been thinking about it, and I can't handle the thought of me doing something to you.'

Tonks looked up into his eyes, her eyes glowing a fierce dark blue, shining big sad puppy eyes. She noticed his eyes were glowing with the same sadness. When she tried to open her mouth to speak, he wouldn't love her.

'I love you, but I can't be with you. One day, the feelings will leave. And maybe one day, maybe years from now, we can be friends.' He couldn't look at her anymore.

He was breaking up with her. She tried to hold back the tears, but they were burning at her retinas, deflecting most of the light, making her eyes dim, and she couldn't hold back the tears any longer. She started to cry, trying to leave so he wouldn't think she was a pathetic git, but her legs wouldn't move for her. Her heart sunk, and she realized something.

_So this is what it's like to have your heart ripped out and stomped on,_ she thought to herself, while she said out loud.

'Maybe one day, I'll forget this, and we will be friends. No wait, I promise that I'll get over it. And we will be friends. No matter how long it takes.' Against some of her will, she smiled at him. It was a small smile, filled with agony and pain, but still a smile nonetheless.

And that smile broke his heart, as he realized what it was made of, and what strength and bravery it took for her.

* * *

_So she kept the promise, after all these years_, he smiled. _Or at least I think she did. It may be too soon to tell._

'Well, I wanted to escape boredom. Fancy meeting you here!' Tonks smiled warmly, and with the reunion, she almost forgot. 'And don't call me Nymphadora.' But she couldn't be angry at him for it this time.

He wondered when she was going to say that. 'So we better get to work here. We have a lot to do.' He pointed to the wall, slightly shifting uncomfortably.

After an hour of painting, they were done with the base coat, and ready to move onto decorating with colour.

'This flat will need a lot of work. But it's worth every moment.' Remus smiled.

'Yes, it is, isn't it?' Tonks wiped her head, not realizing he meant because he loved spending time with her.

'OK, let's get started,' said Lindsey.

They all started to paint the walls blue, but Tonks got tired of this. Why paint it blue with elephants? That's certainly no fun—at least not to paint.

So, she opened the red and pink paint cans when no one was looking. Remus was busy painting their part of the wall.

'Dora,' Tonks froze. She'd been caught. 'We need to paint now.'

'Right, I was just getting more paint.' She hoped she lied well. When he turned back around, she felt immensely relieved. Little to know, he was on to her.

But what did she care. She suspected he could hint something. He was a Maurader, after all. But oh well, she wanted to get on with it. So she dipped

her paint in the pink paint and then swirled it in the red paint, and started chucking.

_Five… four… three…_ she counted. _Two… one…_ and she flung the paint on both the wall, and on Remus.

Remus turned around with a start.

'What was that for?!' he almost yelled it.

'Oops, sorry. I was mostly aiming for the wall…' she blushed a pink shade.

'Oh well, that's—hang on—mostly for the wall?'

'Well, I always thought you'd look nice in paint…' Tonks tried to lie.

'Nice. Well, I guess it can't hurt. Come over here.' Tonks obeyed without realizing it was a trap.

When she was over there with him, he quickly left her before she knew what was happening and had already dipped his brush in paint before she could react.

A grin grew on both of their faces.

'You wouldn't,' said Tonks, trying to hide her laughter and happiness and look as mad at him as possible.

'Oh. Yes. I. Would,' Remus stated mischievously.

'Oh, bloody hell,' Tonks cried at Remus flung the paint at her. It hit her mostly and it hit the wall, so that there was a nice imprint of Tonks on the wall next to Remus.

They both stood and looked at each other for a few seconds before they yelled: 'PAINT FIGHT!' and before they knew it, the whole room was occupied with flying paint and people's screams of laughter.

Tonks took this opportunity to grab a whole bucket of paint, and splashed it on Remus. But she didn't get the last say: he splashed paint on her!

'Let's not waste this paint. Let's go run us against the walls!' Tonks shouted to Remus. And they both made imprints upon the walls.

'Ok, now this looks like a party worthy of Sirius.' Remus said smugly, as he smiled broadly.

'And it's a job well done!' nodded Tonks. Everyone stood to admire their work, almost an hour after the fight started. This was a memorable room!

'So, do you want to catch up sometime? You could help me look for a flat?' asked Remus. Tonks looked up at him, confused.

Upon seeing the look on her face, he quickly explained. 'Well, I want to catch up with you, and I'm looking for a new flat.'

'I would love to.' She smiled at him, and they looked out the balcony onto the sunset.


End file.
